The Russians are trying to raise the stakes in the war against Ukraine. That is why they blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric station - in order to blackmail the world with an atomic catastrophe without the use of nuclear weapons.

This opinion was expressed in a comment to TSN.ua by former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Pavlo Klimkin.

According to him, Russians are blackmailing the world simultaneously on several dimensions: in the situation with the blowing up of the Kakhovka HPP, around the ZNPP, by blackmailing around the grain agreement.

"That is, they are trying to promote several topics at once and weave such a knot from them. That is, escalation in order to raise the stakes, and the less maneuver, the more temptations there will be to raise rates," Klimkin said.

At the same time, the ex-minister is convinced that the use of nuclear weapons will not come, because most countries of the world, regardless of their attitude to the war in Ukraine, do not approve of the use of such weapons.

"Regarding nuclear weapons, this is one of the issues where there is consensus between the Western and non-Western world. And this is China, which has said it publicly many times, it is other countries, Indians and Indonesians. That is, everyone has a fairly clear position here. And this means that here Putin is running into such a world consensus. But to raise the stakes and say that all this is actually due to Ukrainian counteroffensive, that a certain control of the situation is lost, and the controllability of the situation is important for a large number of the world. Or at least a certain sense of controllability of the situation," Klimkin explained.

According to him, the reaction of the Western world to the hydroelectric incident is quite expected and adequate. In particular, the words of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz about the "new dimension of war" are very appropriate, Klimkin believes.

"For me, the most interesting thing is how the non-Western world will react. How the Western will react is absolutely understandable. We see this, and this is an adequate response. But now it is very interesting what the spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry will say about this. I believe that now we have to work, first of all, with the non-Western world, showing that ... Attacks on critical infrastructure can be anywhere, anywhere. This means that, in principle, our way of life is called into question," the ex-minister stressed.

Now it is important to resume discussions on recognizing Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.

"Discussions will definitely resume. It seems to me that now it is very important to put it back on the agenda of Congress. In the fall, a more active phase of the presidential campaign will begin there. Against this background, it will be, I would not say, more difficult to work with, but there will be more issues on the agenda. Therefore, if before the summer pause, congressmen, at least some of them, again introduce this initiative and raise it before the Biden Administration, I believe that this would be the minimum impetus acceptable for us to work later," Klimkin said.

Recall that on the night of Tuesday, June 6, the Russian occupiers blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric station. In the Kherson region, the evacuation of the population began, and President Volodymyr Zelenskyy convened a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council. TSN.ua has collected everything that is known about the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP for the consequences.

Read also:

• What will happen to the Kakhovka HPP: Ukrhydroenergo made a statement about the future of the station
• Gauleiter Saldo against the background of the flooded palace of culture said that the locals "continue ordinary life."
• Chronology of the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP: how the Russians lied about the terrorist attack and themselves were afraid of the consequences